HYDERABAD: As many as 200 Indian students have been marooned and are in neck deep water at the University of Houston with Hurricane Harvey wreaking havoc in Houston, US.External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday evening tweeted that she had been informed by the Consulate General of India in Houston that efforts were being made to deliver food.
“We made efforts for delivery of food but US Coast Guard did not allow as boats were required for rescue operations,” Sushma Swaraj said adding that Anupam Ray, Cosul General at Houston was organizing the rescue operations.
“Indian students Shalini and Nikhil Bhatia are in ICU. We are ensuring that their relatives reach there at the earliest,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the Indian community is reaching out to the victims of the hurricane to help them. “They have declared mandatory evacuation to people in new territory by tomorrow evening. We have no clue how to get out of here, with most of the roads blocked, and move to a safer place. Please let us know your suggestions,” said M Vasundhara Reddy who posted her appeal in the FB group ‘Indians in Houston’.
Another Indian living in Houston, Kishore Ramaraju who hails from Nalgonda, Telangana, said help was pouring in from every member of the Indian community living in Houston.
The Hyderabad restaurant in woodlands is providing free food to those affected by this storm.
Ravi Shankar who is president of Indian graduate students organization at the University of Houston said they have been trying to help as much as possible and were doing their best.
“Is there anyway that we can deliver food or provide shelter to Stratford and Felix apartments? We have close to 250 students and a lot of them are out of food,” he said.
Ravi Shankar said the university does have hotels which are ready to give food but without boats it was impossible to provide any kind of relief to them. “Is there any way we can provide shelter to all of them or at least provide some food assistance to them? I tried everything in my control and now without any other option reaching out to you for help,” he asked CGI Houston.
Make sure your buddies , relatives and love ones are safe.
